Family History News and Views from Lisa Louise Cooke, host of The Genealogy Gems Podcast at www.GenealogyGems.com

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Family History Expo is a Gem!

After ten long hours on the road, we rolled into our driveway this evening happy and exhausted. It was a whirlwind weekend of chatting with listeners and listeners to-be, teaching folks how to iGoogle, seeing old friends and making new ones at the Family History Expo 2008 in St. George, Utah.

It was my second conference with the lovely folks at My Ancestors Found, and I know it won't be my last. They really outdid themselves packing as much genealogy fun into two days as you could find anywhere. My hat is off to Holly and Kimberly...I hope they are putting their feet up this evening as they've been on them endlessly all weekend.

The Genealogy Gems booth saw a steady stream of visitors, and I'm excited to share many of their comments in upcoming episodes of the podcast. In addition, I squeezed in interview time with the editor of Family Tree Magazine, Allison Stacy,(see photo), Marcy Brown of RootsTelevision, and Richard Black of the Godfrey Memorial Library.

Allison was handing out copies of the most recent issue of Family Tree Magazine, and talked about what's coming up in future issues. I feel good when I've prepared a podcast episode 2 weeks ahead, but Allison and her team already have irons in the fire for the July issue! Check out her blog about the Expo at the Genealogy Insider blog.

DearMYRTLE was there conducting her Q&A booth. Attendees were able to ask her their toughest questions and get a "doctor's prescription" for how to heal their research woes. And Myrt had a prescription for several of us who here quite tired on Friday evening - a trip to the local ice cream parlor. Nothing like a sugar-coma from cookie dough ice cream to help you sleep like a baby and prepare for another day :-) And here's an insider tip: expect to hear a new edition of her podcast very soon!

If you didn't make it to this year's Expo, be sure to pencil it in for next February and visit the My Ancestors Found website for more information. It's a gem of a conference!